Table of contents for 2021-12-03 in DFA News

Sandi Kwon Hoo sandi.kwonhoo@inl.co.za TWO JUDGES were inaugurated in the Northern Cape High Court yesterday following the retirement of Judge Casper Johannes Olivier. Olivier stated that after serving for 40 years in litigation, he was now looking forward to spending quality time with his family. Northern Cape High Court Judge President Pule Tlaletsi inaugurated Judge Lawrence Lever and Judge Albert Sibongile Nxumalo as judges of the Northern Cape High Court bench. He stated that Olivier, who was born in Pretoria, grew up in Kimberley, where he attended Diamantveld Laerskool and Diamantveld Hoërskool. “He studied at Stellenbosch University. He worked as an ambulance assistant upon his return to Kimberley and started as a clerk at the Department of Justice in 1974. He became an articled clerk at Duncan and Rothman Attorneys…

Kailene Pillay kailene.pillay@inl.co.za Political Bureau 1. In April 2018, former EFF secretary-general Godrich Gardee complained to the public protector after the Sunday Times reported the herd of cattle meant for emerging farmers was instead delivered to Nkandla as a gift to Zuma from his political ally, former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo. 2. Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane said she had independently sourced evidence showing Zuma did receive 25 Bonsmara cattle and one bull from a company named Agridelight and its managing director Bolokang Derrick Montshwe 3. Mkhwebane said the Hawks in the North West informed her investigation team they were currently busy with the investigation into Agridelight and alleged gratifications made to various individuals 4. The Asset Forfeiture Unit said there was still a lot of groundwork that needed to…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za COSATU has warned that the unemployment rate has worsened over the past few months despite lockdown measures being eased. The trade union federation this week urged President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government to revive the economy through the recovery plan that was tabled last year by the president. Other opposition parties agreed that this was a serious situation. It emerged on Tuesday that the unemployment rate increased by half a percentage point to 34.9% in the third quarter of 2021 – the highest since 2008, according to the quarterly labour force survey. The quarterly labour force survey, released by Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke, showed that the number of employed persons decreased by 660,000 in the third quarter of 2021 to 14.3 million. “The number of unemployed persons decreased by 183,000…

Benida Phillips benida.phillips@inl.co.za SECURITY guards at Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital in Kimberley have threatened to down tools if the management of Defensor Security does not pay their outstanding salaries and improve their working conditions. The security guards claimed yesterday that they have not been paid their salaries for about four months. “We have not been receiving our salaries but are expected to continue to work without any pay. This struggle with the payment of salaries has been carrying on for months,” they said. “Each year when the festive season approaches and the company has to pay our bonuses, then they will withhold our salaries. This is in order for us not to focus on the bonuses and rather focus on our outstanding salaries. If they fail to pay our salaries,…

Matthew Marcus THE MORE I think about Manchester United’s new coaching arrangement, the less it makes sense. Last week, with the news that United were closing in on Ralf Rangnick, I was nogal excited by the news. Rangnick is a pioneer in the modern game. The 63-year-old has been the most influential mind in German football for the last 20 years. While he has had mild success as a coach – with no big league and European titles on his CV – his ideas have taken other coaches to the top of the game. Rangnick’s “gegenpressen” philosophy and tactics have been adopted by the likes of Jurgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann. Meaning “counter-press” this style of play calls for attackers to try and win the ball high up…

Mike Greenaway THE SHARKS have been rocked by a long list of unavailable players ahead of their United Rugby Championship match against the Bulls in Durban today, but they have nevertheless put together a formidable team including the Springbok captain and vice-captain in Siya Kolisi and Lukhanyo Am. Before coach Sean Everitt announced his team for the match yesterday, it was stated that a host of players – many of them first-choice Boks such as Aphelele Fassi and Ox Nche – could not be selected and that details could not be given because of the protection of privacy act. The list includes some serious talent in Nche, Dylan Richardson, Fassi, Yaw Penxe, Grant Williams, Ben Tapui (former Wallaby centre), OJ Noah (former Samoa flank), Eduan Keyter (former Griquas wing), Jaden…

Wynona Louw WHILE the Stormers are disappointed that they won’t be going up against international opposition on home soil, there is no reason to believe they won’t go all out in their local derby against the Lions tomorrow. The Stormers will host the Lions at Cape Town Stadium after the South African teams’ games against Zebre, Munster, Cardiff and Scarlets, scheduled for Rounds Six and Seven, were postponed due to cases of the Omicron variant in the country, leading to teams rushing out of South Africa. Given that this is likely to be the sides’ last weekend of competitive rugby for the year, with action set to resume in January, there should be no lack of motivation going into the clash. The fact that the two teams last met in…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za POLITICAL parties received cash boosts from the IEC ahead of this year’s elections in line with the laws of funding parties based on proportional representation. The report from the IEC on parties represented in Parliament showed that the ANC got the lion’s share of the funds as it commands a majority. The ruling party received R89.8 million from the commission, which is an increase from the previous allocation of R86m. The DA, which is the second largest party in Parliament, received an allocation of R34m from the commission. It was followed by the EFF, which got R19.9m. The Freedom Front Plus received R6.5m after its electoral fortunes saw it bag more seats in the Chamber. The IFP got R5.8m and the ACDP got R2.3m. The ATM got…

Koert Meyer OPINION THIRTY four years ago, on the night of Friday 27/ Saturday 28 November 1987, South Africa's worst air crash happened. South African Airways’ (SAA) Boeing aircraft at the time were given the names of our mountains. The Helderberg Range is close to Somerset West, so how can we forget? Looking back, soon after the National Party notoriously came to power in 1948, quite a number of air disasters happened in South and southern Africa, with the loss of many lives. In 1954 a Comet plunged into the Mediterranean Sea en route from London to Jan Smuts Airport, Johannesburg, with the loss of fourteen passengers and seven crew. On 13 March 1967 a Viscount, named the Rietbok after one of our antelopes, crashed into the sea between Port…

Yogashen Pillay yogashen.pillay@inl.co.za CONSUMERS are set to bear the brunt of huge fuel price hikes which came into effect on Wednesday, which will see the cost of food and transport increase. The Department of Minerals and Energy announced that the petrol price would rise by 75 cents/ litre, while the two grades of diesel increase by 72.5 (0.05%) and 74.5 (0.005%) cents/litre respectively. South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) regional chairperson Mathula Mkhize said that with the recent fuel increases the taxi industry had no choice but to consider an increase in taxi fares. “The leadership of Santaco normally announces its annual increase in taxi fares in July but, with the continuous increase in fuel prices, the leadership, both provincial and national, has decided that it will meet to discuss…

Neville Motlhabakwe neville.motlhabakwe@inl.co.za THE SAFA Frances Baard Regional League this week posted its year-end season closure notice indicating that last weekend’s matches that were played on Sunday, November 28 were the last fixtures for the conference. Safa Frances Baard Regional League secretary Ponatshego Mondela said: “Of the 2021/22 Regional League first round only two fixtures are outstanding. These will be played in the new year. “One fixture was due to be decided by the Safa disciplinary Committee (DC) on Wednesday, December 1.” Mondela said the Safa Regional Competitions Committee will hold a teams meeting on Sunday, January 16, 2022 in Barkly West at a venue yet to be communicated. He said the second round of the 2021/22 season fixtures will likely resume on January 22. Mondela said: “The offices of…

Stuart Hess in JOHANNESBURG Cricket South Africa postponed all three Division Two matches in its 4-Day Domestic Series after players tested positive for Covid-19. The matches were scheduled to start yesterday. Cricket SA, said the tournament isn't taking place in a bio-secure environment and in the last couple of days “some positive Covid-19 test results emerged following team pre-arrival testing sessions.” Cricket SA said it had activated the necessary “precautionary and preventative measures,” stipulated in the organisation’s Covid-19 protocols. “CSA is monitoring the situation closely and a decision regarding the remainder of the fixtures this year will be made in due course as it develops,” the organisation said. In addition, the CSA B-section 3-Day and 1-Day matches featuring Northerns and Easterns set for the same weekend have also been…

Ashfak Mohamed CAN the Bulls forwards secure enough ball for Morné Steyn to dictate terms against the Springbok-laden Sharks pack? That is arguably the biggest challenge awaiting the men from Pretoria in their United Rugby Championship encounter at Kings Park today. Sharks coach Sean Everitt was able to bring back a whole horde of players who had been on tour with the Boks in Europe in November, including centre Lukhanyo Am, wings Makazole Mapimpi and Sbu Nkosi, and flank Siya Kolisi. But perhaps the biggest impact will be felt in the front row, where Bongi Mbonambi will wear the No.2 jersey after his move from the Stormers, while Thomas du Toit will resume at tighthead prop. Ox Nche was not chosen, presumably due to Covid-19-related factors, so energetic youngster Ntuthuko…

Sandi Kwon Hoo sandi.kwonhoo@inl.co.za VEDANTA Zinc International (VZI) said it was looking towards absorbing workers at Gamsberg mine in Aggeneys affected by pending job losses, after it parted ways with one of its business partners – Aveng Moolmans. VZI stated that it had amicably parted ways with Aveng Moolmans, as they were unable to reach a commercial agreement between both parties to handle the reduced tonnages at the mine. VZI head of business Laxman Shekhawat said a decision was taken to preserve the mine along with countless jobs and livelihoods of communities. “The decision to part ways will result in a number of job losses for Aveng Moolmans employees. In light of this decision, it is important to note that VZI employees’ jobs and livelihoods will not be affected,” said…

Staff Reporter WITH A 311% increase in new cases for the seven days leading to November 30, South Africa is driving the surge of Covid-19 infections in southern Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Cases in Gauteng have increased by 375% week on week, while hospital admissions rose 4.2% in the past seven days from the previous seven days. Covid-19-related deaths in the Gauteng province jumped 28.6% from the previous seven days. This has resulted in the WHO deploying a surge team to Gauteng to support surveillance, contact tracing, infection prevention and treatment measures. So far, Botswana and South Africa have reported 19 and 172 Omicron variant cases, respectively. The two southern Africa countries account for 62% of cases reported globally. In Africa, the Omicron variant has…

The Conversation By Hamish McCallum THESE are very early days in terms of our understanding the Omicron variant. What is known is that it has a large number of mutations, particularly in the spike protein and it appears to be rapidly spreading in specific parts of the world. Very early indications from Africa suggest it does not cause particularly severe disease (though the World Health Organization has urged caution given the limited data available). At this point, it isn’t clear whether it has any greater capacity to evade vaccines than other SARS-CoV-2 strains such as Delta. It is very common for viruses to become less virulent (that is, cause less severe disease) once they become established in a population. The classic example is myxomatosis, which killed 99% of rabbits when…

Matthew Marcus In Cape Town CAPE football’s miserable PSL December looks set to continue this weekend. Struggling Cape Town City go to high-riding Kaizer Chiefs and Stellenbosch host champions and runaway league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns. Such is the difference in-form between the Kaapse teams and the top two in the league, that I won’t be giving them a chance to even get a point. But stranger things have happened. Starting with City’s issues, I’m getting a terrible sense of déjà vu about their problems. Under both Benni McCarthy and Jan Olde Riekerink, the team also dropped off in confidence once they started to concede silly goals. Current coach Eric Tinkler took over towards the end of last season and spent the entire pre-season trying to sort out their structural problems…

JEDDAH – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has his first shot at winning the Formula One title in Sunday’s inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix but Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton is chasing a hat-trick of wins to take the battle down to the wire in Abu Dhabi. Seven-times world champion Hamilton, 36, has closed the gap to his 24-year-old rival to eight points in their clash of the generations after resounding back-to-back wins in Brazil and Qatar. The championship has swung between the two and is now on a knife-edge. Victory for Hamilton under the floodlights in the penultimate race of the season on Jeddah’s super-fast 6.1km street circuit could catapult the Briton into the lead while a failure to finish is likely to end his hopes. On paper the flat-out…